Section one Context review of racial bias and black and minority ethnic representation in the criminal justice system.37 A concordat on children in custody was drafted during the year, aiming to reduce the number of children held overnight in custody and to ensure that police forces meet their duties regarding children in custody. Scrutiny with a specific focus on vulnerable persons in detention came during the year. The Equality and Human Rights Commission published its Preventing Deaths in Detention of Adults with Mental Health Conditions report, calling for the establishment of structured approaches for learning lessons from deaths in prisons, police custody and health detention in order to implement improvements for previous deaths and near misses.38 In March 2016, the Court of Appeal overturned a ruling that a compulsory, immediate ban on smoking in prisons in England and Wales should be introduced on the grounds that the ban on smoking in public places does not apply to state prisons and other crown premises. Bans had already come into place in January 2016 in Welsh prisons. In response, the Ministry of Justice stated that it still intended to roll out voluntary controls on smoking in prisons as a matter of policy. In July 2015, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) announced its plans to focus its future international human rights work around three new themes: democratic values and the rule of law; strengthening the rules-based international system; and human rights for a stable world.39 Concerns were raised in some quarters that these three themes could undermine the FCO’s previous stated focus on promoting torture prevention, but the FCO confirmed its continuing commitment to this work within the new themes. It was announced in September 2015 that a commercial arm of the National Offender Management Service, Just Solutions international ( JSi), which sold expertise in prisons and probation around the world, would be closed. Created in 2012, JSi aimed to make a commercial return on work contracted from overseas governments. There had been significant media interest and a judicial review of JSi’s planned work training prison officers in Saudi Arabia. Despite initial indications that this work would continue if the bid for it were awarded, on the grounds that it would be detrimental to the UK’s interests if it did not, the bid was withdrawn in October 2015. This case raised considerable interest in the UK government’s role working with governments of countries where torture is known to be committed. The National Audit Office conducted an inquiry into the closure of JSi and found that it had made a net loss of £1.1million over its lifetime.40 37. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/review-of-racial-bias-and-bame-representation-in-criminal-justice-systemannounced [accessed 01/11/16]. 38. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/preventing-deaths-detention-adults-mental-healthconditions-report [accessed 01/11/16]. 39. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2015/human-rights-and-democracyreport-2015 [accessed 01/11/16]. 40. https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Investigation-into-Just-Solutions.pdf [accessed 01/11/16]. 21

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